Saturday’s Manchester City v. Arsenal match was exciting for many reasons: six goals, fast, fluid play, a fun atmosphere, two players playing against their former team, fans throwing all sorts of things at one certain player… All of this made for a great match. While I’ll only mention Adebayor’s celebration just this once, we can all agree it provoked emotion from both sides, which is ultimately why we watch football.
But I saw something—or someone—else during the game that may turn out to be more significant than some cheesy celebration in the fourth game of a very long season: Tomas Rosicky. A sub, yes; but he played fantastic. He had just come off a week of playing with the Czech Republic and his performance in Manchester had to pleasing for Gunners fans. He ran circles around every other player. He made Cesc Fabregas look like he was standing still—a tall order. He passed through, around, and behind defenders—and never got tired. He scored a goal for crying out loud—albeit a little too late. Upon coming into the game, he immediately upped the tempo of the entire match and, I thought, he kept Arsenal in it—and by “in it” I mean they kept getting chances in front of the goalmouth. I never assumed they would come back.
Even though I knew Arsenal was going to lose, I couldn’t help but noticing this gangly little guy in the middle of the pitch running around, his un-Christiano Ronaldo hair flapping around, his no-nonsense feet dazzling my TV screen, and his perfect passes crisp, smooth, fast, and effective. He was all I was watching.
Perhaps Rosicky was not perfect on Saturday—I’m sure he made a few mistakes. Perhaps Rosicky will never fully recover from injury—or even get re-injured. Perhaps he plays well off the bench. Perhaps this was his one goal this season. Perhaps Rosicky cannot play an entire 90 minutes with the pace he has shown thus far. Perhaps I am wrong—but I certainly hope I am not!
http://tamingposhbeckham.blogspot.com/2009/09/emmanuel-adebayor-stamping-what.html
Bravo! Nice note on a good angle to the Arsenal story
Nice article. I have always admired Tomas Rosicky. He just oozes quality. I hope he can back to his best, only then will we see the little mozart in full swing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D0vvNGJS2Q
this guys channels have all the rosicky videos you want. I’m so pleased to see him back, he’s my favourite player and he’s simply one of the best players for us to have playing next to Cesc.
This post brings it back to the good that happened at Saturday’s game.
It was great to see Rosicky back and playing well. He was one of the highlights for Arsenal in a game where Man City played well and played to win.
I was at the game on saturday and I’m amazed there’s been all this fuss about Adebayor. Most people, myself included, barely noticed the supposed stamp, and it was just one tiny incident in a match dominated by great football. But thats the media for you I guess, they need a controversy to sell papers.
Rosicky was superb when he came on, and he really did stand out with his positioning and alertness. Bendtner also stood out – for all the wrong reasons. He held moves up, his positioning was clueless, and he never looks like he will score. Had Arsenal started with Eduardo, I think the result would have been different.
For City, the best player was De Jong. He ran the central midfield area, bossing the others around him. Ireland was poor, too indecisive, but Barry played ok. I was impressed with Bellamy too – a player I always thought over-rated.
And finally, on a side note, surely Richards goal should not be classed as an own goal.
Absolutely agree, I saw on Saturday the game suddenly changed when Rosicky came in. It it worth of all the month of waiting for his come back. My prayers are answered. What a elegant, talented player! He played with confidence and intellegence, oh, and the skill…..what a pleasure to watch.
Ian B, you’re a douche, this article is about Rosicky, go jerk off to a Man City shield somewhere else jagoff